Constitutional history[edit]
During the Second Boer War, the British forces entered the territory
of the
Orange Free StateOrange Free State and occupied the capital
BloemfonteinBloemfontein on 13
March 1900. Five months later, on 6 October 1900, the British
government declared an official annexation of the full territory of
the Orange Free State, despite the fact that the British had not yet
occupied the full territory of the state, nor defeated the Free State
forces.
The
Orange Free StateOrange Free State government had moved to
KroonstadKroonstad during the
first months of the war and would subsequently convene in the field
until the end of the war. From the perspective of the Orange Free
State, independence was only lost with the ratification of the Treaty
of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902.
Therefore, there existed an ambiguous constitutional situation between
6 October 1900 and 31 May 1902, with two constitutional entities and
two governments. On the Boer side, the government was led by state
president
Martinus Theunis SteynMartinus Theunis Steyn (1857–1916) until 30 May 1902, when
he went on sick-leave and was replaced by general
Christiaan de WetChristiaan de Wet as
acting state president. On the British side, Sir
Alfred MilnerAlfred Milner was
appointed Administrator of the Orange River
ColonyColony on 4 January 1901,
with
Hamilton John Goold-AdamsHamilton John Goold-Adams as lieutenant-governor.
Following the end of hostilities Lord Milner visited
BloemfonteinBloemfontein on
23 June 1902 and promulgated the new constitution, in the presence of
military officials, heads of civil department and representatives of
the late Boer government (including General De Wet).[2] He was sworn
in as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Orange River
ColonyColony on the
same day.
From 1902 to 1910, the colony was governed by a single governor:

By 1904 sentiment was growing for some form of self-government. The
Orangia Unie (Orange Union Party) was formally constituted in May
1906, after several months of preparation. A similar organisation,
called Het Volk, had been formed by the Transvaal Boers in January
1905. Both unions had constitutions almost identical with that of the
Afrikaner Bond, a former pan-Afrikaner political movement, and their
aims were also similar – to secure the position of the Afrikaners in
state and society. The chairman of the Orangia Unie was Abraham
Fischer, leading politician of the pre-Boer War period and top
diplomat of the Boer republics during the Second Boer War. Among the
other prominent members were J. B. M. Hertzog,
Christiaan de WetChristiaan de Wet and
Martinus Theunis Steyn.
A second political party, the Constitutional Party was formed by a
group of burghers content with British rule. Chairman of the party was
Sir John G. Fraser, before the
Second Boer WarSecond Boer War a prominent
(pro-British) member of the
VolksraadVolksraad of the Orange Free State. The
Constitutional Party had a strong following in Bloemfontein, but not
outside the capital. It is noteworthy that the political programmes of
the two parties were very similar, the real difference between them
being the attitude towards British annexation and Afrikaner influence.
In 1905 Lord Selborne, formerly First Lord of the Admiralty, replaced
Viscount Milner as high commissioner for
South AfricaSouth Africa and governor of
the Transvaal and Orange River colonies. Selborne had come to South
Africa with a brief to guide the former Boer republics from Crown
colony government towards self-government. When Liberal Party came
into office in Britain in December 1905 the process was speeded up,
with the decision to give both the Transvaal and Orange River colonies
self-government without delay. Selborne accepted the changed
situation, and the experiment proved successful. He ceased to be
governor of the Orange River
ColonyColony on its assumption of
self-government in June 1907, but retained his other posts until May
1910, retiring on the eve of the establishment of the Union of South
Africa.
On 7 January 1907 Selborne released a despatch, known as the Selborne
Memorandum. It reviewed the situation in
South AfricaSouth Africa in all its
economic and political aspects and was a masterly and comprehensive
statement of the dangers inherent in the existing political system and
of the advantages a political union offered. The document had a marked
influence on the course of events and together with Selborne's
conciliatory approach assisted in reconciling the Dutch and British
communities of South Africa.
After the elections of 1907, the colony received self-government on 27
November 1907.
Abraham FischerAbraham Fischer became the first (and only) prime
minister of the colony (in office 27 November 1907 – 31 May 1910).
The first Legislative Assembly consisted of twenty-nine members of the
Orangia Unie, five Constitutionalists and four independents. Fischer's
cabinet consisted of:

Fischer, besides the premiership, held the portfolio of colonial
secretary. The first Legislative Council counted five members from the
Orangia Unie, five Constitutionalists, and one independent member, in
effect holding the balance.
Policies[edit]
In May 1908, the Orange River
ColonyColony took part in an inter-state
conference which met at
PretoriaPretoria and Cape Town, and determined to
renew the existing customs convention and to make no alteration in
railway rates. These decisions were the result of an agreement to
bring before the parliaments of the various colonies a resolution
advocating the closer union of the South African states and the
appointment of delegates to a national convention to frame a draft
constitution.
In this convention former state president M. T. Steyn took a leading
and conciliatory part, and subsequently the Orange River legislature
agreed to the terms drawn up by the convention for the unification of
the four self-governing colonies in the Union of South Africa. Under
the imperial act by which unification was established (31 May 1910)
the colony entered the Union under the style of the Orange Free State
Province. Fischer and Hertzog became members of the first Union
government, while A.E.W. Ramsbottom became the first administrator of
the
Orange Free StateOrange Free State as a province of the Union.
Demographics[edit]
1904 census[edit]
Population figures for the 1904 census[3]

1. Occupied jointly with the United States.
2. In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained
self-government through the Statute of Westminster. See Name of
Canada.
3. Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion
until it joined Canada in 1949.

6. League of Nations mandate.
7. Self-governing
Southern RhodesiaSouthern Rhodesia unilaterally declared
independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised
state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised
independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until
it withdrew in 2003.